


Ours

by zupeiza



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: F/F, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26664484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zupeiza/pseuds/zupeiza
Summary: "So what did Vanessa say when you told her?""Shout, you mean?"This is how Charity telling Vanessa looked like in my head.
Relationships: Charity Dingle/Vanessa Woodfield
Comments: 4
Kudos: 61





	Ours

**Author's Note:**

> So apparently my brain won't let me continue with my WIP fic until I post this, I hope now I can rest! :)
> 
> I hope you like it!

She only allows herself to relax when she pulls in at Jacob's Fold front door. Charity huffs, and once again extracts the wrinkled paper from her purse, staring at it almost with reverence. Kirin's signature is there, finally, and with it the last obstacle between her and Johnny's adoption.

She grabs her phone, hesitant about how to tell Vanessa. She thought that maybe she could keep it as a surprise, but there is no way she will be able to keep this to herself for longer, she will burst if she doesn't tell her. Not only that, she promised Vanessa she wouldn't lie to her again, and although this feels like a good lie, there is no reason not to be honest with her. Especially when it's such good news.

Plus, Vanessa needs this, she needs some validation from the universe that everything is going to be alright. Charity knows she has been struggling with her recovery - not that the vet hasn't tried to hide her weariness (from the treatment and from her mother, who Charity finds exhausting), but Charity just knows her too well - and this will raise her spirits big time.

She unblocks her phone, smiles when she sees their happy faces on the screen wallpaper, and with a sigh, she opens the FaceTime app. When she starts the call, she realises the timing is not perfect: Vanessa is probably cleaning the kitchen after tea, but that can wait. Six rings after, she is about to give up, when a familiar face appears on the screen.

"Charity?" Vanessa's face looks worried "Is everything okay?"

Charity gulps and grins "Yeah, babe, everything is right. I just... I needed to talk to you about something, and it couldn't wait."

Vanessa's furrows her brow, suspicious, but Charity is beaming and it relaxes her somehow. "Okay... let me go to my room." The blonde vet looked behind her shoulder, dried her hands with a towel and started walking, keeping the camera pointing at her.

Charity notices Vanessa's mother in the background, "Good evening Mrs Woodfield! Glad to see you and your hip all fettled!" she yells. She cannot make anything of the old woman's mumbled response, and Vanessa snorts, shaking her head. 

"You're terrible, you know?" she says, but there is amusement in her voice. 

"Oh, she's warming to me, it's a matter of time she starts FaceTiming me herself" Charity adds with a wink. She stares Vanessa while she climbs the stairs - slower than she usually does, but she doesn't need a break between steps anymore, and although her breathing is laboured it is not as bad as it was at the end of the treatment. She is getting stronger, and that thought warms Charity's heart. "Nice turban, by the way, very stylish babe, you look like a movie star"

Vanessa raises her hand to the bright yellow cloth in her head, self-concious. "Don't laugh... mum found this old scarf and we have been watching tutorials in Youtube about how to wear them." she is blushing.

Charity sobers "Who's laughing? Babe, you look great on it, I'm dead serious." She knows Vanessa has been struggling with her hair loss, even if she doesn't want to talk about it. It's one of the reasons Charity thinks Vanessa preferred to stay with her mom for longer - besides her soon-to-be mother-in-law perfect timing to go and fracture her hip.

The vet smiles shyly "Really?" and when the barmaid nods in the screen her smile widens. "It's quite comfy, actually. And it's warm! It's freezing in this house, I don't know how did I manage when I lived in here!" she closes the bedroom door after herself and lies in her bed, with her back leaning on the headboard. Charity laughs when she sees the Spice Girls poster on top on her fiancée's head, she loves having these small glimpses of her fiancée teenager years.

Vanessa follows her line of vision to see what is she laughing about, and when she sees the poster she rolls her eyes. "Right, very funny. Now what is it that you couldn't wait to tell me. Is it Johnny, is he okay?"

Charity nods, pursing her lips "Yeah, babe, he is doing great. Missing you like crazy, like everyone. But actually yeah, it's about him. Although... first of all I need you to promise you won't get mad at me." she says with a dopey smile.

Vanessa casts a squinting, suspicious gaze to the camera "I won't make such promises. Charity?" she says sternly "What happened? You're starting to freak me out. You have been a bit cagey these last two days on the phone, and now you suddenly call me to tell me something I might get mad about?"

Charity sighs, there is no easy way to explain the rollercoaster her life has been in the last days. "Okay... remember I told you the social worker called me to tell me I had the all clear?"

The blonde vet nods smiling "Yeah... " Then she straightens up "What, don't tell me they changed their mind?!" she protested, louder than she intended.

"No, no, it's not that..." Charity bit her bottom lip. "Kirin." Vanessa's eyes widen at the mention of her child's father's name. "He showed up. Out of nowhere"

"What?! When? Why?!" Vanessa screeches "He didn't take Johnny, did he?!" she suddenly stands up, too nervous to remain laying down.

"No, no, no, chill your boots, Johnny is fine, he's with us, well, with Trace at the moment. I'm still in the car" Charity tries to soothe her fiancée with her most comforting voice. Vanessa seems to relax a little, but her forehead remains creased. "Well apparently he... was desperate for some money, and threatened with making the adoption process even more difficult if I didn't give some to him" she tries to be nonchalant about it, but she knows Vanessa's blood must be boiling by now.

"He what?! How dares he, he's a criminal, he hasn't even bothered to see his boy for years, and then...!" Vanessa was full-on crying with rage at this point.

Charity needed to rush with her account of the actions or Vanessa would have a stroke. "Shh, babe, babe, let me finish, it didn't go his way, okay?" Vanessa sighs, fuming, and nods to let Charity continue with her story. "So I panicked, yeah, and managed to collect the money, with Chas' help" she pointedly omits Paddy's intervention on the discussions, because she doesn't want to cause a feud between Vanessa and her mate.

"How much?" Vanessa finds herself asking. Her guts hurt on thinking that someone she had actually loved was capable of putting a price to her boy, but still she needs to know all the gory details.

Charity shakes her head. "Does it matter? It was a lot, okay? And in the end I couldn't even gather all he asked." Vanessa dries her face from her tears with the back of her hand, and Charity feels useless. "Anyway, when I was dropping the money he flew, 'cause the coppers were onto him."

Vanessa staggers "YOU dropped the money? Are you insane? Charity, he could have hurt you!!" Vanessa's face is red and Charity is less and less sure about who is the target of her anger.

"I would have loved see him try! He might be very brave driving a flashy car, but on the one on one, babe? I would have crushed him" it sounds like a show of bravado, but somehow Vanessa believes she would have ripped him apart. "Anyway, our moron mastermind managed to get hurt during his escape, almost bled himself out. He was lucky the ambulance got him alive."

"So they got him." Vanessa spits. "Good. I hope he rots in jail." She bitterly mutters, but a part of her rests knowing he didn't manage to get his hands on her son.

"Yeah well... there's more" Charity hints. Vanessa looks at her questioningly. "When I dropped the money, he thought I had called the coppers, and threatened to make the adoption hell." Charity winces.

"But if you didn't who did?" Vanessa frowns.

Charity clicks her tongue. Paddy is not at the top of her Best Friends Forever list right now, but she didn't want to throw him under the bus with Vanessa. Although on the other hand, she wanted her to know what an absolute tool her mate was. "It was Paddy," she growled "he reckoned it was the right thing to do" she quotes using her fingers, making her best Paddy impression, trying to lighten the blow with humour, but the hurt on Vanessa's face is obvious when she finds out her friend put her fiancée in danger.

"So Kirin was arrested," Charity continues "and he had made very clear he hated my guts. And I panicked, so I kind of have to... infiltrate" she said with a half smile.

"Infiltrate." Vanessa repeated with a deadpan expression.

"Yeah I went to the hospital, but he was under custody, copper in his room door. So I sort of... nicked some scrubs, dressed up as a doctor. Glasses, stethoscope, the works." Charity tries to explain it as casually as she can, but Vanessa is gaping at her, not very pleased.

"Charity?!" Vanessa explodes

"What?! I was desperate, babe!" She tries to reason with her fiancée.

"What do you mean 'what?' You think you're on the MI6 now? You could have been caught, and arrested as his accomplice! Do you think we need that?!" Vanessa's eyes burn with rage, and then she realises she doesn't even know if she was arrested. "You weren't, right? Caught, I mean."

"No!" Charity shrieks. "I knew what I was doing alright? And, just so you know, I managed to get Zero-Zero-Stupid to sign the adoption papers" she says smugly.

Vanessa's jaw drops, and her face contorts in an ugly sob. She starts to cry really hard then, and Charity is lost because that's not the reactions she expected. "Babe, did you listen to me? Kirin signed the papers! They are right here! See?" she takes the paper and shows it to the camera "The adoption now will go through!" she nods, trying to make Vanessa understand that this is good news.

Vanessa leaves the phone on the bed, and for a moment Charity can only see the room ceiling decorated with fluorescent star stickers, while in the background she hears the blonde vet weeping, and blow her nose. The phone is picked up again and Vanessa is back on the screen, her eyes fully flooded with tears and her mouth covered by her hand.

"Ness..." Charity mutters, feeling her chest tight "What's wrong?"

Vanessa sniffles noisily. "Charity I know you love the drama, but couldn't you have started your story with that?!!" she exclaims with a laugh.

Charity breathes then, and she smiles sheepishly. "Sorry... I guess I got caught up in the plot". She beams when she sees Vanessa laughing and crying at the same time. "So... are we good then?"

"Well I'm still mad at you, because you took an unnecessarily high risk! It could have gone massively wrong!" she says, more severely she intended. "But I can't stay mad at you because you've given me..." she continues unintelligibly blabbering between sobs, with Charity nodding although she doesn't understand what she's saying.

Vanessa collects herself. "This is the best present you could give me Charity. I love you so much." she starts sobbing again.

"Hey, hey! And I love you! And Johnny an'all! You're my girl, and he's my boy!" the absolutely adoring look from Vanessa makes her feel like a million dollars. "So now that we've ticked that box, we need to find another task for you to obsess about. What about re-planning our wedding, huh babe?"

Vanessa covers her mouth with her face, still not believing the fight for Johnny is over. All the past misunderstandings with Charity, the stress about Johnny being alone, it's over. She nods, grinning, and catches some tears - happy tears now - still escaping from her eyes.

"Well... " Charity sighs "I better get home, Tracy has been helping Noah with the two little'uns and probably is waiting for her watch relief. And I need a drink, to celebrate! It's been a really long and weird day..."

Vanessa chuckles "Yeah, go celebrate, and hug those little monkeys for me. Oh, and no more Killing Eve for you, okay? Don't want you getting any more ideas"

Charity opens her mouth with mock anger "Oi! Alright, just for that, no playing doctor in the future, lady, even if I looked kinda hot" she clicks her tongue with the last t, with a teasing smile.

Vanessa rolls her eyes, but can't help to grin from ear to ear. Charity looks at Vanessa's eyes, so blue and clear and hopeful despite the tears shed, and feels her chest explode with happiness. "Talk to you later then, babe."

The blonde vet nods, bits her lips and sighs "He's OURS Charity, Johnny, he's ours at last."

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are welcome!  
> I'm on tumblr @zupeiza if you want to say hi!


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